


Like a Valentine

by sisterspooky



Category: The X-Files
Genre: Domestic, F/M, Inspired by The X-Files, MSR, Mulderxscully - Freeform, Parent Fox Mulder, The X Files - Freeform, X files - Freeform, au!, domestic x files, emily au, msr domestic, parent dana scully, x files au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-25
Updated: 2019-09-27
Packaged: 2020-03-17 00:13:54
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 17
Words: 17,500
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18953989
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sisterspooky/pseuds/sisterspooky
Summary: MSR, EMILY AU!, FLUFF, DOMESTIC, AU!!!!!!! This was originally written as a drabble! I couldn't stop though! So I've put them all here into chapters !!!!





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So each bit of this story will be broken up into chapters... but when I first started writing this on tumblr I meant for it to be a little drabble...and then I couldn't stop.
> 
> Mostly PG, but marked M for obvious reasons!

At first, when Mulder came around, Emily was very shy. Rarely would she entertain his horrible dad-jokes, or accept his offer to play dolls. The only true laugh he’d gotten out of her thus far was the whole Mr. Potato head impersonation a while back.  Scully insists that she will come around and that sometimes when the two are alone, her daughter will ask random questions about him. 

  
_She’s curious about you, you know. Last night she asked me why you have a key to my apartment._

Scully had to explain that she and Mulder are partners in the FBI, to which Emily added that “that’s the big dog police.” A smile pulled at her lips as she nodded in agreement before continuing.   
“Mulder and I are….well…best friends. And best friends trust each other wholly.”   
Emily still wasn’t putting together why that gave Mulder the right to a key.   
“You see Emily, I’ve known Mulder for quite some time now. I trust him and he trusts me. Sometimes Mulder has to come here and get things while I’m not here. Or sometimes Mulder comes to check on me when I’m not feeling too well.”  
Emily looked away briefly, sucking in her bottom lip. She’s thinking very hard about all of this and her next question.   
“How come Mulder sleeps on the couch sometimes?” Scully really didn’t see that one coming. “Well,”  _How to word this._  “Sometimes Mulder, uh, wants to…sleep over…”  
“Grownup’s have sleepovers?” Emily seemed very interested now. Scully, on the other hand, realizes she’s digging the hole deeper.  
“Sometimes,” Scully replies, cautiously. The five-year-old is quite a curious one. A sponge too. She retains anything and everyone says. Sometimes she’ll even bring up something she’d heard months back.  
“Mommy, does Mulder like you?”  
“Well, I sure hope so.”  
“No, mommy, like does he like you like a valentine?”  
Where on Earth had she heard that?  
Scully is rendered silent for a good while. Carefully planning out her answer, all the while flustered and pink-cheeked.   
“I—I don’t know, baby.”  
“I think he does.”  
  
And they left it at that.  


* * *

 

 

“Is this my cue to stop crashing on your _couch,_  Scully?”  
Mulder’s giggling over the rim of his coffee cup while Scully sits in a chair at the front of his desk.   
“I don’t know Mulder. She’s…something else. I mean she asked if you like me… I mean  _like me_ like me. I don’t know where she learned that from.”  
Mulder rubs the pad of his thumb across his bottom lip,   
“Maybe daycare? Cartoons?…or maybe she’s hooked on the soaps?”  
Scully rolls her eyes, not appreciating his “help”.  
“No, I mean…well, what do you want her to think? That I sleep over at your house because I’m homeless? Or the truth?”  
Scully looks up from the nail she’d been fixated on for the last few minutes,  
“The truth?” Scully would love nothing more than to know  _his_  side of the truth.   
Lately, he’s been sneaking in her apartment at an hour he knows Emily will be asleep and slipping into her bed; of course, she’s there, awake, waiting with open arms ( and sometimes legs ). And just before morning, before he knows Emily will wake, he finds his way to the long striped couch. They’ve become quite tangled in something…valentine-ish.  
“Yeah.” Comes his reply, and nothing more than that.  
“Mulder, I–”  
“Look, I get it, Scully. You’re worried what she might think, or feel. I get and respect that. But I don’t think to lie to her…or yourself… is for the best.”  
He’s got a point there. But Scully cannot bring herself to even admit that these nights of random passion are more than just that. They’re two consenting adults with needs, right? Just… they’re two consenting adults with needs that absolutely love each other, yet neither have the guts to admit it out loud. To breathe those words into existence would be terrifying. Much more terrifying than any X File they’ve been on.  
“Hey, I’m not saying you have to unload all of this on her right away. We could work into it. Take it slow, as slow as you’d like.”  
“Mulder, I–”  _I’m scared.  
_“I know, Scully. I am too.” He read her mind. He always does.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> !!!!!! This was originally written as a drabble! I couldn't stop though! So I've put them all here into chapters !!!!

Emily sits in her booster seat at the kitchen table. Scully has made eggs and toast per her daughters request.   
Mulder had come and gone in the night, leaving nothing more than a glow illuminating from Scully as evidence.  
“Mommy?”  
“Yes, baby?” Scully spoons out a portion of the eggs onto the plate with Scooby-doo on it.   
“I think I need to go to the ‘warium…”  
“You do?” The child is full of surprises, that Emily. Scully fixes her own plate and joins her daughter.  
“Yeah. ‘member last week when Mulder was talking about sharks?”  
“Yes?” She doesn’t.  
“He said they’re in the ocean, but also that they’re in the ‘warium. In big tanks. He said you can look at them close up and they can’t touch you…”  
“Uh huh.” Scully puts a little butter on her toast and then a little on Emily’s.   
“I think we should go see them.”  
Scully nods, licking her fingers clean from the grape jelly.  
“Me, you, and Mulder.”  
That really got her attention.  
“What’s that?”  
“Me, you, and Mulder. I think he should come.”  
“Oh. Okay, well. I’m sure we could arrange that.”  
Her heart skips a beat thinking about calling Mulder up to ask he join their outing to the aquarium on this warm and perfectly-day-off-work-Saturday  **per**   **Emily’s**   **request**.  
“Good. I think we should pick him up at his house.”  
“Oh, you do?” Scully giggles and motions to the scooby-doo plate.  
“Well, we’re not doing anything until you finish your plate. Why don’t you eat, and I’ll call up Mulder and ask if he wants to come?”  
Emily, fully motivated now, forks up her eggs and stuffs them in her mouth.  
“Tell him he must come.”  
Why is she so insistent now? Nothing has changed. Scully has yet to tell her about the conversation she and Mulder had…and how they really do like each other like a valentine. None the less, Scully calls him up in her bedroom and gives him quite the morning monologue. 

 

* * *

 

“Wow. Mommy, look at that one!”   
Emily’s all over the place. It’s a miracle Scully doesn’t have a heart attack. Every few seconds the child runs in a different direction. Maybe a child-leash isn’t really THAT bad. Mulder shuffles around, a big goofy grin plastered on his face, and every once in a while Emily will ask him a question about a fish or request he looks at something she finds absolutely interesting.   
  
“Mulder read that.” Emily pretends she has learned something from an information read on the wall next to a large tank.   
“Woah. The electric eel is capable of generating over 800 volts of electricity!  It uses that large electrical discharge for defense and to stun prey.  Most of the time they only generate about 10 volts for navigation and to locate prey because they have poor eyesight and live in murky waters. Electric eels have three different electrical organs that are made up of thousands of electrical generating cells called electrocytes.”   
He’s reading right from the information bubble. it’s a way to inform her without insulting her from the fact that she cannot read that well just yet.  
“—Electric eels are air breathers and must be able to return to the surface to breathe or they can drown! Did you know that, Emily?”   
Emily stares at the long knifefish with her mouth just barely gaped open.  
“THERE’S TWO!” She screams seemingly out of nowhere.   
Mulder laughs, and Scully abruptly turns from across the room.   
“No, there’s three!! there’s one in the back over there!” Mulder adds, just as excited.  
“What? Where? I don’t see it…”  
Mulder thinks for a split second before picking the child up for a better view. Emily, surprisingly, doesn’t mind it one bit. She even thanks him when he puts her back on the ground.  
  
From that moment everything changed.  
When they get to the tunnel of glass, where all kinds of fish and even sharks swim overhead, Emily’s got Mulder’s hand in hers. Scully trails behind them with a bright smile. Maybe that talk won’t be as difficult and awkward as she thought. 

  
“Mulder, Mommy said you are allowed to join us for dinner tonight.” Scully, of course, hadn’t even mentioned it.  
“Oh really, now?” Mulder glances over to Scully, who’s driving, and grins.  
“Well, I’d like that.”  
Emily, pleased with herself, smiles and requests her mother turn up the radio because  _she loves this song._


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> !!!!!! This was originally written as a drabble! I couldn't stop though! So I've put them all here into chapters !!!!

Dinner went well. Extremely well. Emily insisted she sit next to Mulder at the table, and even asked if they could go back to the ‘ _warium_  again one day.   
After dinner, Emily got a bath and was put to bed while Mulder cleaned up the dishes in the kitchen.  
“Well, that went much better than expected. I think she really likes you.” Scully leans against the frame of the threshold in her kitchen.  
Mulder dries off the last dish and places it in its rightful spot before turning around.  
“I think I really like her too. She’s a great kid. Smart. I swear, there for a second, she was actually reading and comprehending everything on those little information panels.”  
“Yeah. I have to agree…but then again, I’m her mother.”  
Scully pushes her weight off the frame and starts towards him.  
“I could get used to this.” She dares, feeling her cheeks starting to heat up. It’s very _very unlike_  her to admit something like this in her head, let alone out loud.  
“Oh, I could get  _VERY_  used to this,” he counters, feeling the palpable heat and energy charging between them.    
“I think you should stay the night. It’s pretty late.”  
It’s not that late, and he’s an insomniac anyway.  
“I think you’re right.” Scully closes the gap between them, lifting on her toes to reach his lips with hers.  
Mulder wraps his long arms around her middle, eagerly meeting her kiss.  
  


* * *

  
When he wakes up, the sun has already started to make an appearance and the birds sing their morning songs just outside the window. He stretches, feeling every muscle in his body ache. Looking to his left with sleepy eyes is Scully. Her red hair splayed out in every direction on the pillow. He smiles for a quick second before realizing that Emily will be awake any moment now.   
Quickly he scurries from the bed, searching for his boxers, and finding them on her side on the floor. He pulls them on and his jeans before bolting down the hall and collapsing onto the couch.  
  
**_SAFE_**!

Not ten minutes later does he hear the little pattering sounds of bare feet tapping their way down the hall.   
  
Scully wakes and shuffles down the hall, her voice still low and dripping with sleep.  
“Mmm, mornin’“ She first addresses her daughter, and then the man on her couch who is pretending to just be waking up.   
“Morning.” He calls back, just as groggily.  
_Thank God it’s Sunday,_  they both think.  
“Mommy, Mulder didn’t have a blanket last night.”   
She’s quite the little observant one. Emily walks around the couch to get a good look at Mulder.  
“Did you get cold in the night?”  
Mulder wipes his eyes, yawning, continuing his best Meryl Streep performance of  _I really did just wake up._  
“No, I wasn’t cold. I actually got pretty hot while I was sleeping.”  
“So where’s the blanket?”  
He looks around, almost caught in the lie.  
“It’s over there. I folded it up,” He leans forward to whisper loudly, “So your mother wouldn’t yell at me.”  
Emily seems pleased with his answer, she even laughs — something that’s very new, given only a few weeks ago he couldn’t even elicit a single smile.  
“Emmy, Why don’t you let Mulder get up and get dressed. You can help me with breakfast. It’s waffles.”  
Emily, quite the morning child she is, sprints passed Mulder, beelining to the kitchen.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> !!!!!! This was originally written as a drabble! I couldn't stop though! So I've put them all here into chapters !!!!

“Mommy?”  
“Emily?” Scully looks up over the rim of her glasses, perfectly plucked brow rising in question.  
“I think Mulder should pick me up from daycare tomorrow.”  
Where has this come from? All these surprise left-fielders.   
“Why?”  
“Because I want to ride with him in his car.”  
“What’s so special about his car?”  
“No’fin. I think he said he wanted to pick me up from daycare though.”  
He did nothing of the sort. This is ALL pure Emily.  
“Is that so? And why would he want to do that?”  
“Because he told me he wanted me to have ice cream.”  
Ohhhh. There it is.  
“Ice cream? Hmm, that’s awful nice of him.”  
“Yep,” Emily shrugs like it’s the most natural thing she’s ever said.  
“He can come pick me up today. I think that’s what he wanted.”  
Scully actually laughs this time and closes the manila folder in front of her.  
“Baby, Mulder and I have work today. We’ll be leaving at the same time. I’m sure he’s got things he needs to do after.”  
“No. I don’t really think so. B’cause…well… he told me that.”  
“Uh huh. Okay, well. I think we should ask him if today is what he really meant. Okay?”  
Emily nods, still completely standing her ground.  
“I think you should call him and tell him.” She adds after a minute of thinking.  


* * *

 

“—and so apparently you promised her ice cream after daycare.” Scully’s smiling down the line, as if he could see it.   
“Oh. for some reason that conversation completely doesn’t ring a bell,” He laughs, smiling too.   
“But I don’t mind at all. I’d love some ice-cream…and the real stuff. Not that nonfat Tofutti rice dreamsicle stuff.”  
“I will call and add you to the pickup list then,’ He can’t see, but she’s definitely rolling her eyes. “Excuse me, but they’re good!”  
“Right, you keep telling yourself that, Scout.”  
“See you in an hour, Mulder.”  
“Bye, Scully. Tell Emily I’ll be picking her up around three”

* * *

A single scoop of chocolate later, and Mulder is automatically Emily’s new favorite person.  
He picked her up at daycare and she chatted his ear off the entire car ride to Hoggy’s Ice Cream parlor.   
  
“Yeah, I love chocolate. So does Mommy. But she hides it. She doesn’t want people to know she likes it.”  
“Really?” Mulder bites down on his cone.   
“Yep. She says sweets will make your teef fall out.”  
“That’s why we brush our teeth three times a day,” Mulder adds, finishing off the last of his cone.   
“I’m going to lose my teef anyways…and the toof fairy will come give me money.”  
_Oh, joy. The ole’ tooth fairy._  
“That’s right. But you should still listen to your mommy. She’s a medical doctor, after all. What she says goes, and is best…She’s even my doctor.”  
“Really? My mommy takes care of you when you’re sick?”  
Mulder nods, “Sure does.”  
“What about if you’re sick at night and you need her to make you better?”  
“I usually call her right up.”  
Emily looks away for the moment, processing.  
“Hmm, Okay…but I think if you get sick you should come stay at my house.”  
“I will definitely tell her you said so.”  


* * *

 

 


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> !!!!!! This was originally written as a drabble! I couldn't stop though! So I've put them all here into chapters !!!!

“There you two are. I was starting to think the two of you were going to camp out at Hoggy’s and eat up all their ice cream.”   
Emily runs and leaps into her mothers’ arms. She’s on a crazy sugar high and has a million things to tell her mother about her time with Mulder.  
  
“Mommy, Mulder needs to stay with us when he’s sick because you’re his doctor and you need to make him better. okay?”  
Scully looks up and over to Mulder and he shrugs his shoulders.  
“Um, okay, bug…but he’s not sick right now.”  
Emily looks back to Mulder.  
“I know, but… maybe he might be…tonight. How would you take care of him if he didn’t stay at our house tonight?”  
“Emmy, baby, I’m sure he’ll be just fine.”  
“I think you should feel his forehead.”  
She REALLY wants him to stay over.  
Scully entertains her train of thought and feels Mulder’s forehead, and while the child isn’t looking Mulder fake coughs.  
“Nope. No fever there.” He sneaks in a pout too and she shoots him a playful warning look.  
“Maybe not right now he’s not.” Emily’s very insistent.  
“Alright, well if Mulder wants to stay, he’s more than welcome to.”  
Emily struts over to the tall man and grabs his hand.  
“I think that’s a great idea. Mulder, mommy will take good care of you, okay?”  
Mulder nods, stifling laughter,   
“Oh I know she will,” He looks up and directly to Scully,  
 “She  _always_  does.”

* * *

 

The three eat dinner together that night and a very healthy Mulder ends up staying.  
Emily insists after her bath that Mulder reads to her from her book ALL about sharks.

“Thank God it’s Friday, right?” Mulder sits at the foot of her bed pulling off his socks while Scully washes off her green facemask in the bathroom. The door remains wide open so that she can hear him.   
“Yeah. But wouldn’t it be so much better if we could sleep in all day tomorrow?” She adds, drying off her face into a clean towel as she walks back into the bedroom.  
“I could always say I’m sick and I need my doctor to care for me.”  
Scully grins, pulling back the sheets on her side of the bed.  
“I’m just as shocked by all of this as you are, Scully.” He finally says, standing to turn down the opposite side of the bed —  _his side._  
“I didn’t think it’d be this easy. I mean a month ago she was hardly keen on the thought of you having a key…and now she’s insisting you pick her up and stay the night.”  
“A blessing, don’t you think?”  
“Yeah,” Scully climbs into the bed and Mulder follows suit. She instantly turns on to her side to face him. “I guess I’m just not used to this…”  
“Used to what?” Surely not THIS. Not sleeping in the same bed. They’ve been doing that for quite some time now.  
“Used to not having to really sneak you in and out. I mean, she  _actually_  wants you here. She likes you…I know that’s not easy for her. She’s always been kind of skittish around men…”  
“I know, but maybe she realized I’m no threat to her. ”  
“I think she realized you’re no threat to ME.”  
Mulder lets that soak in for a while. He can see it. Her daughter is protective, much like a chihuahua – but without the piercing bark or razor-sharp bite.  
“She’s right. I’m not. To either. I would never do anything to bring harm to either of you.”  
“I know that, Mulder.”  
“I love that kid.” He blurts out without a single regret.  
“—and I love her mother too.”  
He could actually hear the breath she sucked in after that one.  
“Mulder,”  
“You don’t have to say it back, Scully. I didn’t say it expecting you to.”  
“—but I do.” She says anyway.  
There’s a silence between them as they stare into one another’s eyes.  
“I’m not feeling well, Doc. I think you ought to take care of me….” He smiles deviously.  
“Mulder…shut up.”


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> NSFW!! !!MATURE!!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> !!!!!! This was originally written as a drabble! I couldn't stop though! So I've put them all here into chapters !!!!

Deft fingers find the hem of her panties, tugging them down her thighs and ankles until they’re no longer attached. He tosses the garment onto the floor along with his boxers and her nightgown. Scully arches her back, the crown of her head pressing deep into the pillow and she mouths the letter O silently. He knows exactly how and where to touch her, knows exactly what she needs and wants at any given time.   
“ _Mulder_ ,” She groans all breathy and dark.   
“ _Shh_ , you’ll wake Emmy.” He warns from the valley between her legs.   
That tongue of his does wonders — so much so that she has to place her palm over her mouth. Mulder flicks said tongue in a quick and consistent motion against her small bundle of nerves. Skilled is a damn understatement, she thinks. When she comes for the second time this way he snakes his way up her body and greedily takes her mouth. Giving her a taste of the motherland, the greatness that is Dana Katherine Scully, on his own lips just before sinking deep inside of her. They both moan in tandem and laugh at the fact they’re supposed to keep each other quiet. Mulder slides in and out of her deliciously slow until she practically demands he go faster and harder.   
“ _Please_ , Mulder.” She wants to come again.   
Who is he to deny her what she wants?   
“Fine. Doctors orders.”   
And he does. His hips snap forward, their bodies creating the perfect little slapping noises each time he slams into her. Her hands grip the sheets tightly, knuckles completely white, and he finds her breasts to show a little love there. Each nipple peaked and begging to be touched. He squeezes each one between his thumb and pointer finger – just enough pressure to make her drag those pearly white teeth over her bottom lip to stifle another moan.   
“ _Oh Mulder_ ,” She really cannot help herself.   
“ _Yes. Yes. please._ ”  
He cannot go any faster, any harder, at this point. Not without the bed collapsing or the headboard leaving dents in the walls. Not without waking Emily. Instead, he’s got to help her out. His dominant hand slides down her slick body, down her ribs, and tracing once around her navel just before stroking her clit one good time. That really seemed to spark up a little something within her.  
“Oh  **fuck**.” She cranes her head to the side to dig her face into the pillow. Mulder uses the pad of his thumb to circle clockwise again and again until she does come.  
“ _Oh_ ,  **YES**. Right there. Don’t stop.”   
Not only has he found the right rhythm, but he’s also found her G spot. Her stomach has already begun to quiver, she’s dangerously close.   
“Come for me, Scully.”   
And just like that she fucking does. Her little toes stiffen out, her legs shake around him, her body pulling and protesting his hand that’s relentless. It’s too much now. She’s coming **HARD**. He pumps into her once, twice, and again before he’s spilling hot and deep inside.   
“ _Uh_! Fuck.” His hands brace himself up on either side of her as his body quakes and he gives in. Just as quickly as their orgasms came, they went. Mulder falls just short of her right arm and laughs. 

“What?” She asks, out of breath.   
“Nothing, I just think you added five years to my life.”   
Scully rolls her eyes but laughs too. “Mulder, you’re crazy.”   
“ _I am?_  Oh, shoot. Better tell my doctor… she should be able to fix me right up.”  
“Oh, I think she just did.”  
“You’re right.” He smiles against the warm skin of her shoulder.  
  


* * *

 

Around three in the morning, Scully hears the familiar pattering sounds of little feet on the hardwood floor.   
“Shit, Mulder. Wake up!”   
“ _Hmm_?” He doesn’t even open his eyes. It’s too late anyway.  
“Mommy?” Oh boy, they’re in for it now. Scully pulls the sheets up to cover herself.  
“What is it, baby?” Scully speaks in that motherly tone that’s so very gentle…as if a naked Mulder isn’t lying next to her in the bed.  
Emily rubs her eyes, just inches from the foot of the bed now.  
“I had a bad dream…”   
“Oh, bug. I’m sorry.” She moves to get up, to comfort her child, but realizes just as naked as Mulder is, she is too. “Uh, bug,” Emily looks passed her mother, now seeing the dark figure on the other side of the bed. Scully follows her visual path.  
“Mommy, is Mulder sick?”  
He’s awake now, but his eyes remain shut and he doesn’t dare move.   
“Uh, yeah, baby. But he’s resting now. He just needed a big bed rather than our couch…and I needed to  _keep an eye on him._ ”  
Emily half smiles and rubs at her eyes again.  
“Mommy, can I sleep with you and Mulder?”  
 _Ohhhhhhhh, my love, but we’re both so very naked under these sheets._  
“What if I go to sleep with you in your big girl bed?”  
“But Mulder’s sick. He needs you to  _keep an eye on him._ ”  
DAMN THIS WHOLE DOCTOR SITUATION.  
Mulder  _ **wakes**_  conveniently and rolls onto his side to face both Scully and Emily.  
“Mulder! Did mommy make you better?”  
“Oh, I’m feeling much better now, Emmy.”  
Emily beams up at him and then to her mother.  
“I had a bad dream. I want to sleep with you guys.”  
Mulder looks to Scully. He really doesn’t know what to do.  
“ _Pweese_!”   
“Okay baby. Why don’t you go get Mr. Bear and let me get Mulder some more medicine?”  
Emily turns and starts for her bedroom. The second she’s out of sight both Mulder and Scully jump up and start tossing clothing to their rightful owners. Mulder swiftly pulls on his boxers and Scully steps into her panties. She pulls on her gown and Mulder pulls up his sweat pants right as Emily returns back into the bedroom.   
“Okay, wait for a second, bug. I’ve got to change the sheets. Mulder,  _uh_ …got a little sick.”  
Emily accepts that and waits with Mr. Bear beside Mulder.

With clean sheets, the three climb into the bed. Mulder on the right, Scully on the left, and Emily sandwiched between them in the middle. Sleep comes easily, even for Mulder. Even when Emily rolls onto her side and presses herself snug against his arm.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> !!!!!! This was originally written as a drabble! I couldn't stop though! So I've put them all here into chapters !!!!

“Anybody miss me?”   
His voice is soft and sleepy down the line. He misses the shit out of them, that’s for sure. Scully and Emily remained back in Virginia while Mulder lies alone on top of the comforter of a lumpy motel bed somewhere in Tennessee. Again, running after his ghosts. Since the case was only one sent through tip email from the three stooges- The Lone Gunmen- he took off alone. Scully’s been cutting back on her fieldwork as of late. He doesn’t blame her one bit. Hell, even he turned down a possible sighting of Nessie two weeks ago. Whether he’d like to admit it or not, he’s changing. Not because he feels he  **has**  to to keep the other side of the bed occupied, but because there’s a little girl in the mix that he loves so damn much it hurts.   
“Is she asleep?”  
Scully hums, he can sense her warm smile. “We’re trying.”   
“Can I talk to her real fast?”  
He hears Scully pull the phone away from her face and call out for Emily.  
“Mulder!!!” She’s just as exuberant as the moment he’d left her.   
“Mulder when are you coming home?”  
_**Home**_. His heart palpitates.   
“Soon, kiddo. Very soon.”  
“Are you gonna bring me and mommy back gifts?”  
“ _Emily_ —” Scully scorns, but not too hard.  
“Of course!” Mulder chimes in. How could he not? He’d spent most of the day in little gas station gift shops anyway.   
“I miss you, Mulder.”  
“I miss you too, bug. Listen, I want you to go to bed and get some good sleep.”  
“How many sleeps until you’re home, Mulder?”  
“Two sleeps.”   
“ _Okay_ ……” He can hear her tone fall off the edge.  
“Hey. I’ll call you tomorrow, okay? And when I get back… _maybe_ we convince mom to take us to the Aquarium again?”  
Scully’s grinning from ear to ear. Something about Mulder referring to her as  _mom_ , and Emily as  _bug_  warmed every fiber of her entire being.  
“OKAY! AND THEN ICE CREAM!”  
“—Yes. And then Ice cream. Okay, go to bed. I–”  
“Love you!” She finishes his sentence before the tip of his tongue can even reach the back of his teeth for the L sound.  
“I love you too. Put your mom back on the phone.”   
He hears the sound of Scully taking the phone back, kissing her daughter and telling her to do as she was told.   
“You there?” She asks, sinking down into the mattress.  
“I am. But I wish I were there with you.” His voice took a dive, plunging into something so very low … husk even.  
“She said she loves you…”  
“She did.” He’s grinning so damn much.  
“Guess that makes two of us, huh?”  
“Guess that makes me the luckiest son of a bitch in the entire world.”  
“Mulder?”  
“Scully?”  
“Please do hurry home.”  
“ _Home_ … I get to call your place home now?”  
Silence.  
“If you’d like.”  
Silence.  
“I think I would….but I have  _conditions_.”  
Scully giggles, throwing her hand up over her mouth,  
“Oh yeah? What’s that?”  
“My fish get to move in too.”  
“Deal. I think Emmy would really like that…”  
“I love her so much, Scully.”  
“I do too.”  
They’re both getting pretty tired now. Each silence between growing just a little longer.  
“Scully, you there?”  
“ _Mmm_ …you should get some rest, Mulder.”  
He laughs. She always says that.  
“I think you should get some rest too, Scully.”  
“Oh hey, Scully?”  
“Yeah, Mulder?”  
“I love you too.”  
“And I love you back, Mulder…and just so you know…if you’ve already named your fish…prepare for Emily to rename them.”  
He smiles again, his cheeks damning him for it.  
Emily can change the names of his fish all she wants. He’s not sure that there’s anything he wouldn’t let her do. He loves that kid….so much so it makes him question   
… everything.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> !!!!!! This was originally written as a drabble! I couldn't stop though! So I've put them all here into chapters !!!!

“Mulder?”  
“Emily? …It’s three in the morning… is everything okay?”  
Of course, he’s awake. This hotel room isn’t doing anyone any favors. The bed- if you can call it that- has got his back all kinds of messed up.   
“Yeah. I just had a bad dream again…and Mommy’s asleep.”  
It really doesn’t surprise him that the kid knows how to use a phone.   
“I’m scared…”  
“Don’t be scared, Emmy. I’m here, I’ll talk to you until you fall back asleep, okay?”  
“Okay…Mulder?”  
Emily climbs back into her  _big girl_ bed and clings to Mr. Bear.  
“Yes?”  
“How many sleeps until you come home?”  
“Just tonight’s sleep.”   
His heart sinks, her tone shattering it into sharp shards that press against his sides. She’s terrified, and he doesn’t dare ask her what those nightmares of hers are about. He can only imagine - All the tests she endured, all those doctors poking and prodding at her like some test lab rat.   
“Okay…Mulder?”  
“Yeah?”  
“Your name is Fox?”  
“Sadly.”  
“I wish my name were Fox.”  
_No, you don’t._  
“It’s a silly name, huh?”  
“I don’t think so. I think it’s the coolest name ever…why does mommy call you Mulder?”  
“Well, because I asked her to.”  
“Why?”  
“Because I don’t really like my name, and because, well, most of the time FBI agents go by their last names.”  
“Is that why you call mommy Scully?”  
“Yeah.”  
“Did you know her name is Dana?”  
“Dana Katherine Scully. Yep. She’s got a beautiful name.”  
“I think I still like Fox better…foxes are my favorite animal.”  
Mulder laughs, shaking his head.   
“Oh yeah? What happened to sharks?”  
“Sharks are cool…but Foxes are stronger.”  
_Ohhh….yeah….doubt that, Emmy._  
“You can call me Fox if you’d like.”  
“But you don’t like it?”  
“You’re the exception.”  
Emily goes quiet on the line for a while and Mulder thinks she has fallen back asleep.  
“Mulder…?”  
“I’m here.” He too has grown quite sleepy, it’s weird.  
“Do you love mommy?”  
“I do. Very much.”  
She’s quiet again, but not for long.  
“Like…a valentine?”  
“More than a valentine.”  
“Are you gonna marry her?”  
So long sleepiness from moments ago- he’s WIDE awake now and speechless.  
“If you marry my mommy that’d make you my daddy.”  
_Oh boy._  Fox Mulder has been in some pretty crazy predicaments before, but this trumps them all.  
“–Uh. Well, I’m not sure…”  
“No, I know that you’d be my dad because Brittany’s mom married Barry and he’s her new dad now.”  
Mulder can only assume that Brittany is one of her daycare friends.  
“Well, Emmy, I can’t really answer that question right now…”  
“Oh. Well… I really want you to be my dad.”  
**_THE HOLE IS AS DEEP AS WE CAN GO NOW!!!_**  
“Hey, Emmy?”  
“Uh huh?”  
“Your birthday is in two weeks.”  
“I know!! I’m going to have a party and you’re invited!”  
_That’s right! Mission change subject worked!_  
“Have you told your mommy what you want for your birthday?”  
“No. But I think I’ve got some good ideas now…”  
_Oh dear God, please! Help a man out here!_

* * *

 

Scully wakes around five in the morning with the urgent urge to pee. And then, of course, she’s parched and makes her way towards the kitchen. On the way back she peeks inside Emily’s room to find her daughter fast asleep… but with her cell phone in her hand.   
_What in the world…_  
Carefully, not to wake her, Scully takes the phone from her hand and slips out of the room.  
The call log reads a forty-seven-minute outgoing phone call to Mulder.  
Now it’s safe to say she’s up for the day and more than curious as to what on earth the two could have been talking about at three in the morning.  
When had Emily learned to use her phone? When had she taken the phone? Why did she call Mulder? Should she be concerned?


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> !!!!!! This was originally written as a drabble! I couldn't stop though! So I've put them all here into chapters !!!!
> 
> I know the last chapter I said Mulder was in Kentucky!! However, I made a QUICK change in location! He was in Tennessee!! read to find out why I did that ;)

After a big reuniting shindig at the airport, Mulder, Scully, and Emily find their way home -  _Home_... _that still feels alien and good all at once._  
Mulder attempts to unpack his things on the floor while Emily follows his every move like a cat begging for attention.  
"Emily, let him get settled, please."  
Scully can be authoritative when she wants to, but even she is more than excited to have Mulder back. That lilt in her tone told Emily that she wasn't entirely serious.   
"Alright, kiddo, close your eyes,"  
Mulder instructs, hiding a little something behind his back.  
Emily squeals and mostly covers her eyes.   
"Okay, open."   
Mulder holds out two plush stuffed animals.   
"OH! A SHARK! A FOX!"   
The child grabs for them both and squeezes them to her chest. Scully smiles down at the two and Mulder looks up to her with a knowing smile.  
"I've got something for you too."  
“ _Mulder_.”   
Scully huffs out a laugh and Emily practically gallops out of the room. To say the kid is giddy would be an understatement.   
“Close your eyes,” He instructs, pulling himself to his feet with his hands returning behind his back.  
“ _Mulder_ ,” She giggles giving in and closing her eyes.  
Reaching out for her hands, he places a small music box in them. Scully opens her eyes slowly and looks down at the gadget. It’s a small wooden box that fits perfectly there in her palms. Engraved in the wood is  _Tennessee Music City_ in cursive.  
“Go on, wind it up.”  
Scully turns the tiny metal crank and the tune of Walking In Memphis begins to play.  
“Mulder!”   
From the smile on her face, he knows that she remembers that night almost two years ago in Albion, Indiana. The two danced front row while Cher sang the exact song playing.  
“I--I don’t know what to say.”  
Mulder’s grinning from ear to ear. He knows he’s outdone himself. This surely beats the keychain.  
“Mulder...” He knows that tone... that’s the tone that elicits a dog to tuck its tail between its legs.  
“Did you go to Graceland again?”  
“No! I actually didn’t go anywhere near Memphis. I was actually more up northeast-ish... near Knoxville.”  
“Well good. Because the next time you go I’d like to go with.”  
_**SAFE**._  
Before he can even smile that smile of relief, She's pressing her lips to his.  
"Thank you. It's beautiful and thoughtful... I don't even know what to say."  
"Don't say anything then...dance with me."  
Taking the little music box from her, he winds it back up and places it on the bed.  
Much like a gentleman, Mulder holds out his hand into which Scully takes. He spins her around one good time before pulling her flush against him and the two dance small circles; her cheek pressed against his chest, his arms around her middle, hers finding their way around his neck.

* * *

 

That night, well after Mulder read Emily her book about sharks and she'd fallen asleep leaning against his chest, he and Scully made up for lost time.   
It’s nearly insane to think about the last couple of years and how they’ve grown closer and closer together finding and exploring this new, yet oddly familiar, spark of domesticity. In the past, Mulder never really put forth much thought into a home life, let alone a relationship- and let's face it here, that’s exactly what this is. Platonic work partners don’t move in together...  
The whole  _get married, have children, the cute house with the white picket fence._.. none of that ever resonated with him; not to say it does now completely. Though, he’d be lying if he didn’t admit the whole  _get married and become a stepfather_  thing has been heavy on his mind as of late.   
  
Scully, on the other hand, has entertained the thought quite a bit. Each birthday she thinks about how she’s just another year older, and that she’s not getting any younger- a woman thinks about these things, ya know? Sure she wants to find that someone, settle down, raise a family...but what she is finding hard to grasp is that _that someone_ has already been found. That someone lies next to her most, if not all, nights. That someone started out as a friend and then became her best friend, and then somewhere along the way she woke up and realized that that someone is the only person she can see herself with. It’s a lot to take in, that she’s well aware of, and given her stubbornness, Dana Scully is having one hell of a time letting herself break down her walls. Without a doubt, she trusts this man more than anyone. But if there’s one thing she’s always lived by, advice from her father, it has been to only rely on herself.   
  
_In this life, Dana, you will find many obstacles, and you will overcome them. In that I state my convictions, however, you must realize that this world is a very dark and scary place. In this world you can never be sure of who to trust, or who to rely on...but there is one person you’ll always be able to rely on...that person is yourself. If you want someone done right, you do it yourself. Always go with your gut._

 _He was right_ ,she thinks. But he’d left out that there is the possibility amongst all of the impossible to find someone who you can put all of your trust in. That, after all, is what love is, right?  
  
“What are you thinking about?”   
He asks lying on his side facing her. The moonlight spills in from between the cracks in the curtains; a perfect beam of light illuminates her eyes just enough.   
“I was just thinking about...everything...us...Emily...how everything is changing so fast.”  
“You don’t like that things are moving this fast.” It’s not a question.  
“I- I don’t know. I mean, I do know...but I don’t at the same time. I guess things are just happening back to back to back and I feel...”  
“Like you’re not in control?”   
“No, Mulder. I just feel like everything I’ve ever wanted is here...it’s happening. But then...”  
“Oh, Scully...”  
“No, Mulder. I’m completely happy. I am. That’s not what I’m getting at.”  
“What are you getting at?”  
Scully exhales a breath realizing there’s never been anything she could keep from him.  
“I’m the happiest now that I’ve ever been. I’ve got my daughter...and I’ve got you. And, I don’t know...I guess I’m just scared that somehow I’ll lose it all. That maybe everything feels right to me...but then there’s you. I never asked what you wanted...and you never signed up for any of this...”  
“Any of what? Emily?”  
“Yeah. I mean, you’re moving in which means you’ll obviously play a huge role in her life...but I never asked, I never thought about what this all means for you...”  
“Scully, YOU are what I want. You know exactly how I feel about her. I love her with all my heart. If I didn’t want to be here...I wouldn’t.”  
“I know...”  
“Then you know that you have nothing to worry about. Wasn’t it you that said, and I quote  
_Don't you ever just want to stop? Get out of the damn car? Settle down and live something approaching a normal life?”_  
Leave it to Mulder and that photographic memory of his.  
“To which I believe you replied with something around the lines of _this IS a normal life.”_  
Mulder smiles as he shakes his head,  
“Believe it or not, Scully... some people can change their minds.”  
“Oh! Really now? You, Fox Mulder, who chases down every single crop circle lead, every bigfoot sighting, and anything that could possibly, remotely, have to do with something paranormal or extraterrestrial can just get out of the car and settle down?”  
“Well, as I recall, I was never alone in all of those rental cars...”  
This time it’s Scully that laughs through a smile.  
“So what? You’re ready to settle down?”  
“Maybe...”  
“I’m not asking you to give any of that up. I hope you know that, Mulder.”  
“I know. But I also know that there’s a little girl in the next room over that called me last night scared of a nightmare and found comfort in my ramblings...and then asked if I was going to marry her mother...and that if I married her mother I’d be her new dad.”  
Scully’s eyes widen, her heart thumping against her throat.  
“She...Mulder...”  
“I told her I couldn’t answer her question just yet...and then she told me she really wanted me to be her dad...So when it comes to changing, I knew for sure then. Last night after that call... I found myself packing my bags and counting down the hours until my flight. Until I’d be right here in our home. This is exactly where I want to be...You’re not the only one who’s the happiest they’ve ever been.”  
Scully’s perfectly manicured fingers run through the hair above his ears and she pulls his head forward, towards hers, until their lips meet once again.  
  
“I believe it.”   
“Finally.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you guys so much for the feedback!   
> I'm not really good at writing fics because it's hard for me to form an entire story without straying too far!   
> As I said, this started out as a bunch of drabbles ( scenes, if you will ) ... but now that I'm writing it I CAN'T STOP!  
> I'm really optimistic that this will be good practice for me, and hopefully, in the future, I'll be able to buckle down and write a more well-written story!
> 
> For now, I'll continue this ... whatever this is...


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> !!!!!! This was originally written as a drabble! I couldn't stop though! So I've put them all here into chapters !!!!

“Here Kiddo, you can carry this box.”  
“I got this!”   
Emily packs in one of the smallest boxes of the bunch. Mulder even pretends to carefully hand it off like it might be fragile and heavy as he does.  
“Be careful! Don’t want to pull a muscle there!”  
Emily takes on the task as willing and determined as ever. She carries that box through the door to her mother’s apartment with vigor. Scully smiles as she passes her daughter through the door and back out to the curb where Mulder’s U-Haul is parked.  
“You’ve got a lot of stuff, Mulder. I’m starting to think we should have gone through everything and considered donating a lot of it.”  
“I did! I got rid of a lot of my things.”  
Mulder winks at her as if she knows exactly what he’s talking about. But of course, she doesn’t.  
"Well, what’d you get rid of? All your  _magazines_?”  
There’s a silence between the two before Scully busts out laughing.  
“Are you kidding me?”  
Mulder’s trying his best to stifle a laugh or a smile. He was a little proud of himself when he’d handed off all those boxes of what used to be a pretty hefty collection to Frohike.  
“Yeah, well...just imagine walking in on Emily finding one of them.”  
Scully nods her appreciation before pressing to her toes to further that  _thank you._  
“Oh, I get a reward...I’m sure I could get rid of more junk in here... what would that get me?”  
“ _Hmm_. A happier woman in your life. More room to move about...”  
“Oh come on, Scully. You’re telling me you don’t want this green lava lamp to spruce up the living room? I’m sure our guests will think we’re  _real_  cool.”  
“ _Real_  cool? What are we stoner deadheads?”  
“Hey, there’s nothing wrong with stoner deadheads!”  
Scully rolls her eyes before readjusting her little ponytail.  
“Alright, alright. I’ll work on decluttering next week!”  
“This weekend!”  
She counters, grabbing for a box and beelining towards the door before he can reply.

* * *

 

Mulder manages to go through almost all of the boxes he labeled “stuff” and place most of it into the boxes Scully labeled “donations”. Every once in a while she’d saunter back into the living room to check on his progress, and when he spent too much time going down memory lane with some old, what looked to be, baseball cards, she’d nonchalantly remind him that Emily’s birthday party is in three days and that the place needs to be cleaned and cleared of boxes.  
  
By the weekend, Mulder had all of his clothes put away in their designated drawers or spaces in the closet. His shoes were neatly placed on a shoe rack as well- that was all Scully’s doing. Everything else either found a new home or was given a rightful spot where she wanted it ( Because in this apartment there is no junk room ). Sadly, Mulder chose not to keep that green lava lamp that hadn’t been plugged in probably since college. His computer now sits on his desk in the corner of their room, and that infamous leather couch of his was put into Emily’s room because she had a complete meltdown insisting that  ** _THAT’S MULDER’S COUCH! WE CAN’T THROW MULDER’S COUCH AWAY!_  **At that point, Scully couldn’t win. Mulder tried to match her authoritative tone but gave in way too easily to the child’s demands. His basketball goal sits in a rented storage space ( he even whispered  _I’ll be back for you_ before closing the garage style door ). By the time he recycles all the empty boxes and takes out the trash, Scully begins the deep cleaning phase.   
  
“Nope. Get up. We’re cleaning for the party tomorrow.”  
“ _Mmm_ , ten minutes, Scully.”  
“Nope. Sorry. If you’d moved in last week I would have said yes.”  
“I was in Tennessee last week...”  
“Uh huh...but there are also these cool people called movers...and if you pay them, they’ll move your stuff!”  
Mulder groans, peeling himself off the couch. He doesn’t hold any of this against her. He knows her all too well. Scully is a perfectionist. She wants this place sparkling for her guests. But most of all, she wants her daughter to have the best birthday every single year.

And so they clean. and clean. and clean....and clean until there’s nothing left to clean ( in his opinion ). In Scully’s, there’s  _ALWAYS_  something to clean.   
“Scully it’s almost midnight! If we don’t go to bed now we’ll never get up.”  
“Says the insomniac...”  
He can tell she’s dragging. Emily fell asleep on the rug watching cartoons hours ago and he’d carried her off to bed. She was all cleaned out too.   
“There’s so much to do tomorrow....”  
Mulder’s got his hands on her shoulders, coaxing her down the hall to their bedroom.  
“Yes, but that’s tomorrow, not tonight.”  
“I’ve got to get up early and pick up the cake...and then I’ve got to pick up the big gifts from mom’s because she can’t get them into her car...and”  
“--And we’ll do it all! Tomorrow.”  
Scully sits on the edge of the bed drowsy as ever.  
“Tomorrow. I’ll get up early and make breakfast,”  
Scully snorts at that.  
“I will! I can make breakfast! ... anyways, then I’ll get Emily up, fed, dressed, and keep her out of the way until it’s time. You’ve got nothing to worry about.”  
This time Scully’s quiet. She can’t argue with that. Mulder grabs for her hands and helps her to her feet.   
“Come on,  _get some rest,_  Scully.”  
**Finally!** He’s the one who gets to use that line.  
The two in such a tired state is quite a sight! They’ve got this whole teamwork thing down. Mulder tosses her one of his shirts that he knows will swallow her but she loves to sleep in, and Scully actually tosses off the decorative pillows, letting them land wherever they might fall. Yeah! she’s  _that_  tired.   
Not even five minutes pass and they’re both in bed. Lights off, quiet house, neither having to move much to find that comfortable angle.  
“Teamwork.”   
He says, and Scully jumps a little at the abrupt sound of his voice. She was teetering on the outskirts of sleep.  
“Mmm, uh huh. Night Mulder.”  
“Goodnight Scully.”  
In the night the two gravitate towards one another like opposite sides of a magnet. She’s got her head resting half on his pillow and half on his shoulder. Their legs a tangled mess. But surprisingly neither move away - they’ve become so very used to one another. It feels more than right. 


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> !!!!!! This was originally written as a drabble! I couldn't stop though! So I've put them all here into chapters !!!!
> 
> PLEASE READ THE NOTES AT THE END!

“Iiiiiiitttttts yooooourrr BIRTHDAY!!! WAKE UP!”  
Mulder’s hovering in the door frame of Emily’s room wearing one of Scully’s cooking aprons. He’d managed breakfast only having to redo the toast once! He’ll mark that one down as a win.  
Emily sits up wiping at her eyes before it really sets in that today IS her birthday.  
“It’s...IT’S MY BIRTHDAY!”   
She’s up and on her feet jumping on the bed within seconds. Mulder mentally notes that he’d have already passed out had he gotten up that quickly.  
“I’ve got breakfast ready! Let’s eat and then we’ll pick out what you want to wear for your party!”  
  
Scully’s in the kitchen working on a cream cheese bagel because  _Mulder they’re quick, easy, and less fattening! I’ve got a lot to do before this party! -_ And yes, it was real cream cheese. They all should be safe today.

Emily sits at the table while Mulder plates her eggs, bacon, and toast on to that notorious Scooby Doo plate.   
“Mulder, what time is my party?”  
“It’s at four.”  
“Well, what are we going to do until then?”  
She’s pushing her eggs around the plate as she interrogates the only left adult in the house.  
“I’m not sure yet.”  
Mulder sits at the table digging right in, famished as always.  
“I think we should go to the warium.”  
“Umm, I don’t think that’s a good idea.”  
“Mulder...”  
“Hmm?”  
“It’s not polite to speak with your mouth full.”  
Mulder smiles, the contents in said mouth showing. Emily giggles and finally stuffs the first bite into her mouth. Of course, she mocks him and shows off her food.  
“I know that’s a mommy rule...”   
He says after swallowing. Emily nods...then repeats the action.  
“But it’s your birthday, so I’ll let it slide.”  
“So, Mulder. What are we gonna do?”  
“What if we go shopping?”  
“And I can get a birthday present?”  
Mulder thinks for a beat before answering,  
“Yeah, but I need your help with something too. You up for that?”  
“OH YEAH! I’M THE BEST SHOPPER THERE IS!”  
“Yeah, well we can’t shop on an empty stomach...so eat up.”  
That always seems to work with her.

* * *

 

Scully, quite the busy bee she is, picks up the cake, extra cookies, a few decorations that she hadn’t seen the week prior, and swings by her moms for the gifts. 

“Dana, you’ve got a lot on your plate. Are you sure you don’t want me to just follow you over? I can help set up...”  
“Oh, mom, you don’t have to do that. I’ve got Ellen coming over. We’ll have it all under control. You could come around two? Mulder might need some help getting Emily re-dressed.”  
“Re-dressed?”  
“Oh, I’m sure with whatever they’re getting into right now she’ll need to change.”  
Maggie laughs and helps carry out a few bags to the car.  
“I’m assuming Ellen will bring Trent? I haven’t seen him for such a long time. I bet he’s grown!”  
“Like a weed, mom. I’m sorry,”   
With furrowed brows, Scully tries to let her mother know apologetically as possible  _I’ve got to go!_  
“Yes! yes! go! I’ll see you around three!”  
  


* * *

 

 

It’s three and the party starts in one hour. Scully has turned her apartment into an aquarium/shark birthday land. She hung plastic sheets on the walls that look like the ocean, placed little fish bowls filled with goldfish crackers, and labeled Mulder’s fish tank with all the new names Emily had given the three fish: Sharky, Foxy, and Sharky two.

Ellen placed different shades of blue streamers around anything and everything and then taped all the different kinds of sharks on any free wall spaces she could find.  
  
Maggie arrives with homemade pasta salad and bags of chips to go with the hamburgers and hotdogs that will be served.  
  
“Oh good! Thank you,”  
Scully puts the dish in the fridge after having to play Tetris with everything else in there.  
“Wow...an ocean theme?”  
“An aquarium theme. Emily’s really into sharks right now.”  
Maggie laughs, taking in the entirety of the decorations.  
“I tried looking into getting her a shark for the tank, but I didn’t have much luck.”  
“A shark?”   
Ellen’s eyes grow wide.  
“No, no. Not like a shark in the ocean, Ellen. There are fish that resemble sharks but actually are more in the carp or catfish family.”  
“Ohhh.”  
Maggie and Ellen made the connection in tandem.  
“Speaking of Emily, where is she?”  
Scully looks down at her watch and realizes that they should be here.  
“Mulder took her out, I’m sure... I’ll just call...”  
Like clockwork, in two come through the door with a few bags in hand.  
“MOMMY!”  
Emily drops her bags and leaps into her mother’s arms.  
“There’s my birthday girl! Look at you....you’re...”  
Scully looks past the child and towards Mulder.  
“You’re ... beautiful.”  
Mulder let Emily dress herself. After all, it’s her birthday.   
The child wears a sparkly pastel purple dress with green leggings, her red bubble coat, and yellow rain boots.   
“We went shopping today, mommy, and Mulder got me new shoes. They light up!”  
“He did? And did you say thank you?”  
“Yes, she did,”  
Mulder chimes in, walking back into the room. He’d gone back to the bedroom to bag up the gifts he got Emily when she wasn’t looking.  
Ellen takes Emily’s hand and walks her over to the fish tank to show her the labeled names.  
“Fox, the burgers and hotdogs...were you planning on grilling them?”  
Maggie now sports a kitchen apron, she’s in full food prep mode.  
“Yes. I’ve borrowed a grill. It’s outside on the side of the building. I’ll get it fired up and ready.”  
“Good, be sure to put a coat on, it’s chilly out there. Dana, sweetheart, the guests will be arriving at any moment. Is there anything else I can do to help?”  
“No. Thanks, mom. You can relax.”  
Of course, she doesn’t. Maggie returns to the kitchen resuming whatever it was she’d been doing before she’d asked about the grill.  
  


“Hi.”   
Mulder finally takes the opportunity to remind the birthday mom that she’s done a great job.  
“Hi.”  
Scully wipes a sheen of sweat from her forehead.  
“I feel gross.”  
“You don’t look gross.”  
“ _Thanks_.”  
Mulder bends down for a kiss just as the doorbell rings.  
In pours five or six kids from Emily’s daycare, along with their mothers and a few fathers.  
Trent comes trailing in behind with one of his friends. Ellen had apologized earlier that he’d be bringing a friend and that _it’s hard to get teenagers to do anything anymore._  
“Trent! Wow! You’re so grown!”   
Scully pulls her godson into her arms for a big hug.  
“You’re what? fourteen now?”  
“I’ll be fifteen next May.”  
“Wow. And who’s your friend?”  
“Oh, this is Max, a friend from School.”  
“Nice to meet you, Max. Please make yourself at home.”  
The boys part ways from the adults and head towards the couch with a box full of trading cards.  
Emily greets her friends and insists she show them the fish while Scully piles everyone’s jackets back in the bedroom.  
Mulder finally takes the cue and starts grilling the hotdogs and hamburgers.

  
  
“Okay everyone lets eat!”   
Scully attempts to round up all the children to sit at the pop-up table while all the grownups take their seats at the dining room table.  
Mulder and Maggie work to cut up hotdogs for the picky kids and bun the remaining ones and hamburgers for the rest. Ellen, pulling through like the best friend she is, pours drinks into the little party cups and keeps the kids collected and seated.

* * *

  
  
Surprised that there isn’t a huge mess, Scully, Maggie, and Ellen clean up after the meal while the kids play once more. Soon they’ll open gifts and cut the cake.  
  
“Mommy, I want to open my presents now.”  
“Okay, sweetheart. Will you ask Mulder to get a trash bag?”  
Emily runs into the kitchen repeating the message to House-wife-Mulder who is elbow deep in dishes.  
“Oh! Is it present time?”  
“YES!”  
Mulder dries off his hands placing the last dish onto a dishtowel to dry before grabbing for a trash bag.  
“OKAY MOMMY! PRESENTS!”  
The kids gather round sitting in a circle on the floor - all in all, sounding like a heard of animals.   
Emily tears through wrapping papers and tissue paper filled bags admiring each gift for maybe six seconds each as she goes.  
New stuffed animals, a few barbies, some clothes, and an easy bake oven later Scully instructs her daughter to close her eyes.  
Mulder rolls in a new tricycle from the bedroom and parks it just a few feet from Emily.  
“Open up!”  
Emily opens her eyes and jumps to her feet. Giddy? Yeah, that’s an understatement.  
“A BIKE!”   
“Yes! That’s not all!”   
Mulder chimes in, a goofy grin pulling at his lips.  
Scully looks to Mulder, a perfectly plucked brow risen.  
“There’s a big one over there you haven’t opened.”  
Emily looks behind her to find a box twice her size.   
“That’s from mommy and me.”  
Brittany, Emily’s friend, scoots closer as if she’s seconds away from opening the damn thing herself. Emily tears into the box making sure she does so solo.   
“UHHHHH!” a long and very dramatic gasp  
“A DOLL HOUSE!”  
Scully’s mouth hits the floor and she thinks she’d kiss the man if there weren’t too many kids in the room.  Just a few weeks ago Emily had pointed out the dollhouse in a Toys-R-Us magazine. While it had completely slipped Scully’s busy-mommy-mind, Mulder hadn’t forgotten.  
  


* * *

 

“Mulder, will you read me my new shark book?”  
“Of course I will, birthday girl.”  
“My birthday is over now.”  
“Not until midnight...”  
“I can stay up and wait!”  
“ _Mmm_ , we’ll see about that, bug.”  
Scully comes into Emily’s bedroom in her pajamas and sits next to her daughter. It’s another sandwich; Mulder on her right and Scully on her left.   
“You’re six now, baby girl. Do you know what that means?”  
Scully brushes a few stray strands of hair from her daughter’s face.  
“No.”  
“It means you get to start school next year.”  
“Mommy, will Brittany get to go to school with me?”  
“I’m sure she will, baby.”  
Scully had already started the enrollment process, but given that Emily had to be six to start kindergarten by a certain date, she’ll have to wait until next year to begin.  
“Mommy, I want you to read to me too.”  
Mulder laughs at the thought of them taking turns reading.  
“And with the voices that Mulder does.”  
“Oh...Mulder does voices?”  
“Yes. It’s very crucial that you do the voice right for each shark... though this is a new book and that comes with new shark voices.”  
Oh boy, Mulder cannot wait to hear this.  
“Oh. Okay.”  
Emily snuggles in between the two and clasps her hands together in excitement.  
Mulder reads the first few pages until there’s a different shark, one that Emily insists is a girl shark- therefore mommy has to do this voice.  
The two take turns creating silly voices for the sharks in the book, laughing when the other would do some funny accent. Neither realized Emily had fallen asleep already. Maybe they were having too much fun. 

* * *

 

Scully looks at the clock before slipping into bed.  
“Well, we made it. It’s twelve-twenty-three.”  
“We did.”  
Mulder slips out of his flannel pants before getting under the covers. Scully shivers at the contrast between her warm skin and the cold silky sheets.  
“ _Mmm_ , warm me up, Mulder.”  
“Come here,”  
Mulder opens his arms to wrap around her slender frame and she reluctantly scoots into them.  
He peppers her forehead with a few kisses and in response, she wiggles around.  
“Mulder, I’m too tired.”  
“Oh, I’m sorry...”  
A nice and calming silence falls between them, and for once there are no sounds of sirens down the street or dogs barking.  
Scully nuzzles her face into the crook of his neck and presses her lips to his jawline.  
“ _Mmm_ , Mulder, you give up too easily.”

  
He smiles. God, he loves this woman.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let me just tell you guys! I did my research as best as I could. 
> 
> I went back and watched Jersey Devil JUST TO FIGURE OUT HOW OLD TRENT WOULD BE!  
> I, to the best of my ability, counted the candles on the birthday cake!! I think there were 8!! 
> 
> This story takes place about two years after "Christmas Carol" ( Mainly because I wanted her to be young yet old enough to have witty banter! )  
> I went back and watched it trying to figure out Emily's real age ( because I CANNOT find it online anywhere )  
> Maggie holds up an image of Emily with a birthday cake and as far as I can tell there were three candles on it! ( but I don't know WHEN that birthday was )  
> Scully says that Melissa ran off around 1994, and that Emily was born that November! ( which kinda threw me for one because in my head the story has been in like the spring/summer time ... then again... the scenes jump around and you never really know what day or month it is! PLEASE JUST GO WITH IT WITH ME! LOL ) What I do know is that Emily was at least 3 when she and Scully met. SO the rest is just a best guess. ( saw that she's three on IMDB ...?? ) 
> 
> For the sake of my story, Emily is 5 and turning 6 on her birthday!
> 
> Also, I really did try to look into "freshwater sharks" for Emily...but I wasn't having much luck. They've got to get alone with those goldfish after all!! If anyone knows more on this feel free to let me know!  
> I saw on google "Gold wish can live harmoniously with tiger sharks" and I'll be honest, I'm really unsure about that... haha.


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> !!!!!! This was originally written as a drabble! I couldn't stop though! So I've put them all here into chapters !!!!
> 
> So just in case you didn't read the ending notes, we're in late November heading to December.  
> I'm normally not so horrible at dropping hints about the seasons!

The second Thanksgiving was over, Scully and Emily were in full-blown Christmas fever. Scully wanted to put up the tree that very night, but Mulder insisted she take a nap before going out black Friday shopping with her sister-in-law and Ellen. Mulder would watch Emily that night and the two would end up playing dolls with her new dollhouse until it was nearing Midnight and the child couldn’t keep her eyes open any longer.

However, that following weekend the tree was up and fully decorated. Mulder had wrapped the garland around the banisters outside the apartment because  _Mulder it’ll look nice and the residents here will appreciate it._  It seemed every day leading up to the week before Christmas more and more gifts would find themselves under the tree until they were overflowing on every side. Emily tried her best to pluck little corners off to catch a sneak peek but would be caught every single time. 

 _Emily, remember, Santa is watching._ Scully would say.

Normally Mulder and Scully would work right up until Christmas Eve. This year, not so much. They’d both taken the entire week off, and planned to take Newyears Eve and Day off as well. No spooky mansions with doomed-couple-suicide-pacts in their near futures.   
  
It’s the night before Christmas, and all through the house, not a creature was stirring...except for a six-year-old child that’s way too pumped up on cookies that were supposed to be for Santa. 

“Mommy!! Santa is in Chicago now!”  
Emily’s jumping off the walls, she’s so hyper.   
“Yeah, well, you know he can’t come here until you’re in bed asleep!”  
Scully finishes rinsing her mug of hot tea and returns to her spot on the couch next to and cozied up Mulder ( who is about to fall asleep ).  
“Chicago...that’s a lot of sleeps from here, Mommy.”  
“Not when you’re on a magical slay with reindeer flying it!”  
Mulder finally speaks up, his voice coming out a little more groggy than he expected. Emily laughs in response and pounces onto his lap.  
“Mulder, you sound like Mr. Scrooge!”  
Scully snorts a laugh and tugs for a share of the blanket.  
“Are you sleepy?”  
Scully pokes at Mulder’s cheek playfully eliciting a grumble under his breath. Emily lies her head on his shoulder and for the first time of the night she’s still, calm, and quiet. Scully’s brows rise and Mulder unspokenly vows not to move until she’s asleep.  
  
Not ten minutes later Mulder carries a very deep sleeping Emily to her bed, tucking her in and pressing a quick kiss to her little forehead.  
  
When Mulder closes the bedroom door behind him, he hears the bathtub running. The door is slightly ajar and he can see that Scully is undressing.   
Quietly he stands leaning against the frame- she already knows he’s there. She always does.

“Care to join?”


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> !!!!!! This was originally written as a drabble! I couldn't stop though! So I've put them all here into chapters !!!!

It’s like something out of a movie. Scully lit candles and strategically placed them around the lip of the tub. Mulder turned off all the lights, and the two sunk down together into a peppermint bubble bath. 

Mulder sits with his back against the ceramic tub while Scully rests between his legs; her back against his chest.

“This is technically our first real Christmas together.”  
Scully absentmindedly traces circles around his right knee cap.  
“What? Are you telling me we weren’t together at that mansion on Christmas Eve?? And then, as I recall, you came to my apartment and we spent the hours leading into Christmas together.”  
“Mulder! I mean like this. Together.”  
“ _Oh_. I get you.”  
Together- as in  _ **HEY SPOOKY BOY WE’RE NOW A THING AND THIS IS OUR FIRST CHRISTMAS TOGETHER AS A THING!**_  
“This is so...nice.”  
She hums against the skin of his neck while he runs his fingers through her hair.  
Scully giggles for a second,  
“Why are you laughing?”  
“I don’t know. I’m just thinking about you being in a bubble bath right now.”  
“You are too...”  
“Yeah, but it’s so romantic.”  
“You saying I’m not romantic? Wh? What about that time in the hospital when I told you I loved you??”  
“Mulder you were completely out of your head that night!”  
“I was not! Oh! What about all the times I’ve opened the door for you- I’m quite the gentleman too.”  
“Mulder, you open up the door for everyone.”  
“What?? No! Okay, okay. What about the time I asked you to marry me?”  
“When?”  
There’s a brief pause. Now certainly was not the time he planned any of this. However it just kind of fell right into place. Of course, there was a previous time he’d asked her to marry him ( on the phone ) to which he recalls her  _hoping for something a little more helpful._..but she obviously doesn’t remember...and how romantic is this?  
“Right now.”  
He says, voice a little shakey. Even he hadn’t really expected himself to say those words out loud.  
“Mulder?”   
She turns around until she’s on her knees before him.  
“I mean, yes... I did ask you once before...and this isn’t really how I’d planned out asking in my mind, but hey...get out of the damn car, right?”  
“Y-You were going to ask...Mulder...”  
“Yes. The morning of Emily’s birthday party she and I went out shopping. I asked her to help me pick out a ring and--”  
“Mulder.”  
Scully pulls her hands up to her face to wipe away the tears that have begun to fall.  
“Oh, Scully. I didn’t mean to--”  
“No, Mulder. The answer is yes.”  
“Yes? R-Really?”  
Scully nods, a full wattage smile making its appearance.  
Mulder reaches out and pulls her to him, completely closing that unnecessary gap between them. 

* * *

 

Scully quickly blows out all the candles while Mulder digs around in his sock drawer for that little black velvet box.

“Scully?”   
He found it. Now his hands shake as he stands there in nothing more than a towel- like he said, this is not really how he’d planned this to go at all.  
Scully had slipped into a light blue silk robe just before answering his call. She knows what’s about to happen, but that doesn’t stop her little legs from trembling. Slowly his hands find hers in the ill-lit bedroom.

“It’s you, Scully. It’s always been you. I’m a better man because of you. I may not know all the truth’s, and I might never find them, but what I  _do_  know with absolute certainty is that I am completely and madly in love with you. You have given me happiness and love, and beyond that, you’ve given me the greatest friendship that I never thought I even deserved. I love your daughter with my entire heart and if you let me, I’ll raise her alongside the best mother in the entire world...Dana, there’s no one else I’d rather grow old with, and this is it... You’re my person. You’re my one in five billion - I was in my right mind when I told you that too. If there’s nothing left out there for me, if the truth is so far covered and redacted that I’ll never be able to shed light on...then at least I have you. I’d rather have you...Will you have me?”

“Mulder, you are the greatest most loyal and determined man I know. To be loved by you filled all those empty voids of loneliness that I felt for so long. I don’t believe that I’ve made you a better man. You made yourself a better man because of everything we’ve been through together. Throughout all of these years, when I look back, I realize that just as tough as I am, or like to be...you’ve always been there for me. I know I held up some pretty strong walls, but it has only been you that could see through the cracks. You found me...and Mulder you have me. You’ve always had me.”  
  
His smile begins from his heart pulling upwards towards his eyes, and it’s then he tastes the tears that streamed down his face. Scully steps forward and presses to her toes so that she might reach him.  
“I love you and will happily marry you.”  
Mulder opens that little black velvet box, his eyes glued to her face.  
Scully gasps and brings her hands back to her face.  
The ring is suttle-ish. A gold band wrapped with small diamonds and a single pearl in lieu of a bigger diamond.  
“Made me think of your love for the sea.”  
“Mulder, it’s beautiful.”  
The ring slides on her left hand with ease. He may or may not have sized up one of her rings that she already had before.

Scully, already on her toes, presses her lips to his for a long and lasting kiss.  
He wraps his arms around her middle, carefully lifting her off the ground.  
“Mr. and Mrs. Spooky.” She laughs.  
“Don’t.” She laughs even harder.  
“ _Mmm_ , Merry Christmas to me.”  
Scully moans into his mouth, her fingers threading through the hair at the back of his neck.  
“ _Hmm_?”   
Mulder pops open one eye to glance at the clock. Sure enough, it’s five past midnight.  
“So it is.”  
“Merry Christmas, Mulder.”  
“Merry Christmas, Scully.”

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The ring was somewhat inspired by this ring of Gillian's   
> ( http://www4.pictures.zimbio.com/gi/2015+InStyle+Warner+Bros+72nd+Annual+Golden+zl-g3uwQVWAx.jpg )  
> However, I had already had it in mind that the ring would be a pearl... it just worked out that I found an image of Gillian wearing one :) 
> 
> I imagine the pearl being a bit smaller.
> 
> Also, much like Mulder, this is NOT when I was planning to do the whole proposal!! AT ALL...  
> I was talking to a friend and asked her to list off time's Mulder had been obviously romantic and she listed off "the time he asked her to marry him". I typed it out and then sat there with my mouth WIDE OPEN. I said OMG THEY WALKED RIGHT INTO THAT ONE.  
> so yeah.


	14. Chapter 14

Christmas ran pretty smooth despite all the hustle and bustle of going to and fro Scully’s mothers and their house. Turns out it was a white one too. Snow coated the sidewalk and streets just enough to hinder all that morning travel. The temperature, however, sat just above freezing- thankfully.

Maggie had noticed the ring the second her daughter walked through the door. She didn’t yet say anything, but the look on her face said it all.

“Yes, mom.”  
“I knew it!”   
Maggie grabbed for her daughters hand to get a better look.  
“Oh, Fox, you really picked out the best of the best.”  
“Shh, we haven’t told Emily yet.”   
Though Emily assisted Mulder in buying the ring and knew that Mulder would be marrying her mother, she hadn’t quite put it all together yet that the ring is on her mother’s finger because he’d already asked.  
“We’re going to tell her tonight.”  
“I see. Well, I’m happy for you two!”  
Maggie took turns hugging them both until Emily zoomed by with a trash bag in her hands. That kid really is a sponge. She knows that to open gifts you’ve got to be prepared to clean up too - not the worst thing for her to put together. At all.

That night Mulder, Scully, and Emily returned to their home with bags and bags full of gifts. Emily insisted they both play with her since she’d gotten three new dolls for her dollhouse. Not to mention the new additions to said dollhouse: a new barn with a horse, a few new pieces of furniture, and a little red Corvette that she insists only her girl doll can drive- certainly not Mulder’s or Mommy’s.  
  
“Emily, sweetheart. Mulder and I want to talk to you.”  
Scully placed her doll in its designated bed in the dollhouse and Mulder oddly laid his next to the horse...  
“What?”  
The child’s trying to get her doll to fit in the Corvette.   
“Emily, can you please put the doll down. I promise we can play again later.”  
She does so, but not without a little pout.  
“Bug, I promise we’ll play again.”  
Mulder adds, which Emily rewards him with a small smile as she complies.  
“Okay. Emily, you know how you and I went shopping for that ring that I was planning to give your mommy?”  
“Yeah. To marry her.”  
“Yes, to marry her. Well...”  
Scully holds up her left hand towards her daughter.  
“She’s wearing it.”   
She sounds a little confused, but then it clicks.  
“YOU ASKED MOMMY TO MARRY YOU?”  
Both Mulder and Scully laugh while Emily jumps up to her feet.  
“Yes, baby. He asked me and I said yes.”  
“So you’re going to be my dad?”  
 **HERE WE GO AGAIN.**  
Mulder looks to Scully VERY unsure of how to approach this. He’d already told Scully he’d love nothing more than to raise Emily with her.  
“Yes. Mulder will become your new dad.”  
Scully jumps the gun, taking the words right out of his mouth because she knew he was asking her for permission to say so.  
Emily jumps right into Mulder’s lap and wraps her little arms around his neck.  
“I always wanted you to be my dad.”  
“---and I always hoped you say that.”  
Mulder closes his arms around her, looking to Scully who is already in tears.  
“I have a real family now.”  
Emily speaks into the side of his neck. So innocent, so pure. It makes Mulder tear up too.  
“This is the best Christmas ever.”

* * *

 

Both Mulder and Scully put Emily to bed that night. They read the book about sharks and took turns kissing her little forehead before returning to their bedroom.  
  
“Scully, I want to adopt her.”  
He jumps right in. Giving no second to even sit down on the bed. Mulder knows what he wants, and he’s mostly got it.  
“Mulder, that’s a huge step.”  
“No, that to me is the right step. I want to be sure that she’ll always be taken care of. If something were to happen to me... or you.”  
Scully gives up on starting her nightly routine in the bathroom and turns towards him. She wraps her arms around his neck, smiling up at those beautiful hazel hues.   
“You know this doesn’t just happen overnight, right? It’s a process that can take up to a year...If we’re lucky, six months. We’d have to be married first to go through stepparenting adoption. I’m pretty sure we have to have been living together for a year too.”  
“So I can’t adopt her for a year?”  
“Well, maybe less. I don’t know. We can talk to a lawyer about all of this. I just don’t want you to...”  
“Get too excited?”  
“No. I’m happy...  _ **very**_  happy that you’re excited. I just don’t want you to think that this is something we can just go down to the courthouse and do in one day.”  
“Scully, I didn’t think that...okay I  _might_  have thought that...”  
Scully laughs as she presses her lips to his.  
“You’re too much, you know that?”  
“I do know that.”  
“Take me to bed,  _Fiance_.”  
“Oh, I do like that way that sounds.”


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> NSFW!
> 
> Sorry it took me forever to get out a new chapter!   
> I just moved into a new apartment and have been SWAMPED with shows lately!   
> I'm a musician, and here lately I've had up to SIX shows a week!!!!
> 
> Stay with me! I don't intend to stop anytime soon!!!! 
> 
> I know the last few chapters have been MSR heavy and a little lacking in the Emily department...  
> Don't worry! Mulder and Scully just need time to explore this whole engaged thing ;)

Oh, how he loves waking up next to Scully every morning and thinking to himself that this will be how he wakes every morning from here on out. But the weekend mornings are the best. They typically will stay up later that Saturday night and sleep in through the morning of Sunday. Emily generally wakes around ten on weekends ( blessed is an understatement ). Sometimes they’d get lucky and all get to sleep in until around eleven. Even if Emily woke, she’d play in her room knowing that her mommy and Mulder work very hard through the weekdays and deserve lazy Sundays. 

Mulder takes in the sight of her each morning, regardless. Her red hair feathered in every direction on the pillow, sometimes covering her face, and when it’s not he watches her slightly parted lips fighting the urge to kiss her every time. The small light snoring sounds that she insists she doesn’t make brings a smile to his face every time, too. 

“Mmm, Mulder... I can feel you staring at me.”  
She doesn’t even open her eyes yet.   
“Can’t help it.”  
He leans down to kiss her cheek, hoping she might open those eyes to reveal those brilliant cerulean eyes that lock him down here on earth.   
And she does, like clockwork.   
“What time is it?”  
Her voice is always a bit lower when she wakes up.  
“Almost eleven.”  
The sun spills in through the slightly parted curtains, and the birds have already surpassed their morning songs.  
“--we slept in a little late..”  
“You can go back to sleep if you want to though. I don’t hear Bug.”  
“But you’re awake,”  
She mumbles, letting her eyelids flutter open and closed a few times.  
“Consider me resting. I’ll keep quiet.”  
“Okay.”  
Scully closes her eyes once more for a good two minutes.  
“Okay, I can’t go back to sleep.”  
“Me either,”  
Mulder rolls onto his side, brushing the stray hairs from her face.  
“How do you do that?”  
“Do what?”  
He asks, continuing to brush his fingers through her hair.  
“You look so handsome without trying...any woman would kill to wake up naturally flawless.”  
“Good thing you don’t have to kill...”  
“Mulder, shut up.”   
“What? I’m being serious.”  
“You’re supposed to take the compliment...”  
“I did...then returned it. Not because I felt I had to...are we not having a morning truth session?”  
“You’re impossible...”  
“Impossibly handsome, yes, I know, you’ve already said that.”  
Scully rolls her eyes before playfully swatting his hand away from her hair.  
She’s quick to bring his hand back though. Woman really do love having their hair played with.  
Mulder rakes his fingers through, massaging her scalp, and Scully rolls over onto her side, her back to him. He stops for a split second and she mumbles her disapproval.   
“Sorry.”  
 _Keep playing with the hair, got it._  
Lying there in silence playing with her hair, Mulder lets his mind wander far. He doesn’t even feel Scully scoot herself closer to him, doesn’t even notice her ass pressed against him either -- not until he feels her pressing against his now rock hard length.   
“Scully?”  
“ _Mmm_?”  
How long had she been gyrating her hips into him?  
How long had he been completely missing her signals?  
Scully continues to roll her hips, and he can only assume she’d give a MEAN lapdance.   
His hands snake around the curve of her hips and up the hem of her silk nightgown that hardly covered more than her upper thighs, trailing up her stomach and to her breasts; her nipples already peaked and begging for a little attention. He, of course, pinches on between his thumb and pointer finger eliciting the sweetest breathy moan as she leans into his touch. 

Morning sex? maybe not the first time. Morning sex with your fiance? Now we’re talking... There’s a first for everything.

Mulder can feel the heat radiating off of her body as he glides his hand down and underneath the elastic band of her panties. She’s hot and wet, and he’s practically salivating. All the while, Scully and those hips are relentless. He’s impossibly hard, and a little uncomfortable in these boxer briefs.   
“Scully,”  
“Touch me, Mulder.”  
She didn’t have to tell him twice. The tips of his fingers circle once, twice, and again over her bundle of nerves. He’s rewarded with a few firm grinds against his hardon.   
“Fuck. I want you so bad.”  
“Then do it.”  
“Like this?”  
That same hand leaves her wanting for a few moments as he reaches down between them to push her panties over to the side from the back.   
She could have helped, but couldn’t bring her hands away from her own breasts long enough.   
Mulder reaches around once more to stroke her clit a few times before positioning himself and slowly sinking in. Scully presses her face deeper into the pillow to stifle the moan. He had to press his mouth to her shoulder blade.  
Scully grinds her hips in those same circles around him, she’s eager and wanting that sweet release; not giving him a single chance to start moving.  
Sweat cascades down his bare chest between them and he wishes there weren’t a single sheet on this bed right about now.   
“Mulder.”  
He detects how desperate she is in her tone and takes the lead.  
Bucking forward once, he gets enough space between them to really move. His left-hand digs into her left hip, kneading the flesh and making sure she doesn’t come back too far. Now he’s finally moving, and she’s finally letting him. This feels better than he could have ever imagined. Both on their sides, him pumping into her from behind. She’s even tighter this way, he thinks.  
“Mulder,”  
Scully reaches for that deft hand of his and guides it around to her front. She uses his hand like a puppet, doing exactly what she wants with hers overtop of his. Coaxing quick circles and side to side erratic movements over her clit.   
“So...close.”  
Pearly teeth rake over her bottom lip in concentration. She wants this, she needs this.   
Mulder bucks forwards quickening the pace with each thrust. He almost wants to flip her over, take her that way knowing it’d be quicker...but this is just too good. It’s almost like he has more control over his own body this way. Like he might be able to hold off just a little bit longer and wait for her to get there.  
“Come on, Scully... come for me.”  
Oh, she wants to, she’s almost there...almost!  
Her toes stiffen up and he can feel her body begin to stiffen out. Her chest arches forward slightly, her ass pressing back into him like before. He can’t stop her. She lets go of his hand just in time that his palm lands on her quaking stomach. He feels her orgasm shake throughout her muscles and then he’s gone too, spilling into her with four more hard pumps.

They come down together with his arm draped over her middle and spooned up behind her still. It was quick, not the most romantic, but damn did it get the job done.   
  
“It’s eleven-eleven, make a wish, Scully.”  
“Don’t need to...”


	16. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you guys for hanging in there!  
> To say I've been busy would be an understatement!
> 
> Still, I'll always find time to write :)

“Mulder how come we have to go on an airplane? why can’t we drive?”  
Emily, normally the biggest morning person on the planet, is not having this three in the morning wakeup call.  
“Well, because we’re going to the beach...and that’d be a VERY long drive.”  
“Emily, please get up and get dressed. We need to leave in twenty minutes.”  
Scully hangs on the door frame, peeking in.  
“Mulder, it’s February. We can’t go to the beach! It’s cold!”  
Mulder laughs and tugs gently at the child's arm, coaxing her to sit up and get moving,  
“Not where we’re going. It’ll be warm enough to swim.”  
“...are there sharks?”  
“I’m sure there are.”  
Emily gets up and begins to dress in the clothes Scully had laid out for her hours ago.  
  
“Breakfast. It’s quick.”  
Scully has two bowls of cereal on the table and a yogurt cup in her hands.  
The three eat in that  _it’s way too early to be awake, let alone function_  silence.

* * *

 

The airport is a jungle, though it’s definitely no Atlanta or LAX. Either way, the three weave their way through the crowd just to make it to their gate in time.  
“Flight to 623 to Maui now boarding.”  
_Just in time_ , Scully thinks, adjusting her bag onto the other shoulder.  
Emily gets a little fussy while they’re boarding the plane, but Mulder is quick to calm her down. It’s in every young child’s nature to act this way at this age. They know no better.  
“I sit here?”  
“Yep. And I sit here.”  
“And mommy sits here?”  
“Yep. A bug sandwich.”  
Emily giggles and Scully fastens her seatbelt while Mulder shoves their carry on bags into the overhead compartments.  
“So in a few minutes, after we’re in the air... you see those people up there that just told us all about flight safety?”  
Emily nods, listening very intently.  
“They’re going to come around and ask us what we want to drink. And they’re gonna give us pretzels.”  
A giddy little sound of excitement bubbles out from the child as she claps her little hands together.  
“Maybe there’s an in-flight movie too.”  
Scully adds.

* * *

 

Take off wasn’t so bad. Emily took it much better than her mom would ever. Scully still hates to take off and turbulence. Mulder caught a glimpse of the look on her face and her hands gripping the armrests -- much like the first flight they were ever on together.   
Emily crunches on her pretzels watching the opening scene of Flubber on the little screen on the chair in front of her.  
Scully glances at her watch dreading the next eleven hours. Emily will inevitably become anxious and restless. Mulder will probably nap or to grow restless, and she will have to deal with it all.  
“Scully?”   
Mulder leans back in his chair so that he can talk behind Emily.  
“Did you tell her?”  
“No. Did you?”  
“No...So I guess it’s a real surprise.”  
“Mmm.”  
“You wanna nap? I’ll keep an eye on her.”  
“I don’t know if I’ll be able to, Mulder.”  
He knew that wasn’t the truth. Mother Scully values her naps whenever she can get them these days. And within thirty minutes of green flying rubber and the doctor Robin Williams, she’s out. Emily too, surprisingly.  
  
With just under five hours to go, Scully takes Emily to the bathroom for the second time and walks her about the cabin to stretch her little legs. Mulder took his turn to nap in the meantime. When they’re down to about three hours Scully orders from the lunch menu after holding off with pretzels as long as she could ( because let's face it, flight meals AREN’T cheap ).  
  
“Ladies and Gentleman, you’ll see that the captain has turned on the seatbelt signs. If you’d please lean your chairs into the upright position and fold up your trays, we’ll begin preparing for landing. The time in Maui is 5:23 pm. The temperature is 74 degrees.”

Mulder nudges a very lethargic Emily and wiggles his eyes brows at her.   
“We’re about to land, which means we’re here.”  
Emily had wondered why Scully packed up her jacket into the carryon hours ago. She’d even told her that she could put on her flip flops as well.  
“Mommy it’s warm here?”  
“Much warmer than the snow we left behind.”  
“There’s no snow here?”  
“No, baby. It’s in the seventies here. That’s pretty warm.”  
“And tomorrow we’ve got a high of seventy-nine”  
Mulder chimes in a little bit more exuberant than he’d intended.

* * *

 

  
  
“You’re sure it’s that one?”  
Scully squints her eyes to read the number on the building.  
“Yes, Scully.”  
They’ve rented out a condo, beachfront, for the entire week. It’s more than aesthetically pleasing - it’s Heaven on Earth.  
Mulder pulls the rental car into a spot just off the side of the condo and exhales a deep breath.  
“Finally. We’re here.”  
Emily jumps out of the car and rushes to the greenery for a better view of the ocean.  
“Em, not too far. Give us a minute to get the bags and then maybe we can go down.”  
Emily plants her feet, actually obeying her mother.

  
Scully and Mulder load up each arm with bags almost in one trip and unload into the living room of their ground-floor condo.   
There’s a large double glass door that opens up to the living room from the beach. Inside, the living room connects to a decent sized kitchen. The couch, table and tv stand, look to Mulder like it’s made of Bambo. The couches have green leaf print on them, the floor is an off white tile. The master bedroom is off to the right. It too has double glass doors that open up to the view of the beach. The bed, thankfully, is a king. To their surprise, the second bedroom is upstairs; a loft looking over the living room.   
“Is that mine?”  
Emily stares up at the banister.  
“Let’s go have a look.”  
Mulder takes her hand and the two go exploring up the few steps.  
There in the loft area are two twin size beds.  
“But I only need one bed.”  
“Guess you could switch out.”  
“Or! We could have a sleepover!”  
“Yeah, we can do that!”  
“Mulder, I called mom and told her we’re here. She’ll be ready in ten.”  
“Okay,” Mulder calls over the banister.  
“Let's get you changed kiddo. We’re going to dinner.”  
Scully changes into a flowy knee-length floral dress and slips into sandles with a little wedge.  
Mulder brings down Emily, who is now wearing a little dress of her own, then dresses in jeans and a dressy-ish shirt.  
“Mommy, where are we going?”  
“To eat dinner, didn’t Mulder tell you?”  
“Yes...”

* * *

  
  
Nalu’s South Shore Grill is fancy casual. No one sports their swimsuits, yet no one wears suit and ties. Mulder had called in for a table on the deck.  
The three walk in and are instantly taken out to their table.  
“Grandma!”  
Emily shouts, running towards Maggie with open arms.  
“Hi, baby!”   
Maggie hugs her granddaughter long enough for Scully to take her by the hand and help her into a chair with a booster seat.  
“Mommy didn’t tell me you were coming on _baycation_ with us!”  
“She didn’t?”  
Scully mouths  _sorry_  as she takes her seat. Mulder sits next to Maggie and grabs for the menu.   
“Grandma do you like to swim?”  
“Not really. I like to lay out in the sun and take a dip to cool off.”  
Emily processes that information, not really understanding why that’d be fun.  
“Mulder said there are sharks!”  
Maggie looks to Mulder with  _a look._  
“Oh, mom, trust me. That’s not a bad thing. She’s still completely infatuated by them.”  
“Right. Yes. There are sharks.”  
Scully looks over the menu and points out the kid's section for Emily.   
“Four glasses of water.”  
Maggie’s quick to order for the entire table. No one says anything. Does anyone even care at this point? They’re here for the food, after all.  
“Grandma, can we go swimming in the morning?”  
Maggie looks to Scully. Another  _look_.  
“Baby, we can’t swim tomorrow morning. Tomorrow evening for sure, though.”  
“Why not?”  
“Well...because. Mommy and Mulder are getting married tomorrow.”  
“YOU ARE?”  
Mulder covers his mouth to keep from laughing louder than Emily’s shout.  
“Yep.”  
“AM I A FLOWER GIRL?”  
“Absolutely.”  
“And grandma can be a flower girl too?”  
“Uh, I think grandma wants to do something else.”  
“Oh.”  
“Well... who is going to walk you down the aisle?”  
How does this child know so much about weddings?”  
“My big brother.”  
“...you have a brother??”  
“I have two brothers, baby. You’ve met uncle bill before.”  
“Uncle Bill is your brother?”  
Mulder can’t stop laughing.  
“Yes. He’s my brother.”  
“You don’t have a sister?”  
Scully takes a beat before answering, looking to her mother.  
“I did have a sister. But she’s in Heaven now.”  
“Oh. Well, I bet she’ll be there tomorrow. She’ll always be with you, Mommy.”  
“Yeah. I know.”  
Scully’s quick to turn her head to wipe a stray tear.  
“Shall we order?”  
Maggie clears her throat and looks up to the waitress.  
“Of course.”

* * *

 

“Goodnight, baby. You keep Mulder company, Okay?”  
“Okay, mama.”   
Emily rushes up the steps leaving Scully and Mulder to themselves for a bit.  
“Scully, why do we have to sleep apart?”  
“It’s tradition, Mulder. You know how it goes.”  
“Yeah, but we’re not traditional.”  
Scully smiles and presses to her toes to kiss him.  
“You’ll be alright. Plus tomorrow we’ll sleep together and husband and wife.”  
“Well...I don’t know how much _sleeping_ we’ll be doing.”  
He winks and Scully playfully slaps his arm,  
“Shut up, Mulder. Kiss me one more time before I go.”  
Mulder leans down and pulls her close to him leaving a long and lingering kiss on her lips. That’ll have to hold him over.  
“Goodnight,  _Dana_.”   
He pulls back from his kiss looking all intoxicated and sentimental.  
“Mmm, goodnight,  _ **Fox**_.”  
She had to.

* * *

  
  
Scully goes next door and spends her last night as a Scully with her mother.  
Mulder and Emily stay up for about an hour longer playing games they’d found in a drawer under the TV.  
“So tomorrow you marry my mom?”  
“Yep.”  
“And then you become my dad.”  
Mulder swallows, thinking carefully.  
“Almost.”  
“Almost?”  
“Yeah.”  
Emily cocks her head to the side in confusion.  
“It’ll make sense one day.”  
“But you’ll be my dad?”  
She still doesn’t understand...and it’s far too late to explain what a step-dad is and how he plans to adopt her.  
“I  _will_  be if you’ll have me.”  
Emily stands up and claps her hands over his.  
“Mulder, I have you to be my dad.”  
Mulder laughs and kisses her little knuckles.  
“Let’s get to bed, kid.”


	17. Chapter 17

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> IT'S WEDDING DAY!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's been a while! BUT I'M ON VACATION! SO I'M FINALLY GETTING TO WRITE AGAIN!

It's the morning of the wedding and just like every single bride in the known universe, Dana Scully is a mess! She cried over breakfast because her mother looked at her in that motherly sentimental way that reads _my daughter, my baby, is getting married today_ \-- and that was just too much. Not to mention, on a whim, Scully decided she'd do her own makeup and hair...and now all of that just seems so much to put on one person- the BRIDE!

 

* * *

 

 

Mulder wakes with a toddler nearly stuck to his side. Sometime in the night, Emily must have crawled into bed with him. Carefully, he peels her tiny hot limbs off of his. Why are children always so HOT when they sleep? And though the top is short-sleeved, why is she wearing FLANNEL bottoms? Maybe Scully had packed up all her spring and summer pajamas for the winter.

 

* * *

 

 

Maggie muses over a glass of mostly champagne with a splash of orange juice. She calls this her world-famous mimosa, and Scully insists that it's a trainwreck waiting to happen.

 

"Mom, slow down. You're not the one getting married...and also since when are you a drinker?"

 

"I'm not a drinker, Dana. I just thought mimosa's on the morning of your wedding would be nice."

 

"Maybe if you got the proportions right I'd have another. That first already went to my head."

 

"Well, that's because you have hardly touched your breakfast."

 

Scully nearly shoves an entire piece of toast into her mouth. Again, she's a mess.

 

"There. I'm eating."

 

"Great. Do you want another?"

 

Maggie lifts her glass, shaking it side to side as if that'd somehow make it that much more appealing.

 

"ONE," Scully stresses, "You're going to get me drunk."

 

"I would never."

 

I guess it's safe to say both of the Scully women are in rare form this morning.

 

* * *

 

 

Mulder starts, to the best of his ability, on the eggs. You can't possibly go wrong with eggs. Wrong. The first batch he has to scrape from the pan; all the charred pieces tossed into the trash. Thankfully by the time Emily wakes and stumbles into the kitchen, he's got everything plated and ready to eat.

 

"Today's the day!"

 

Emily's quite the sight this morning. Her hair is sticking up in every direction it could possibly go, those flannel pajamas are pasted to her from her night sweats, and her little eyes have crusties in the corners. But still, her voice musters up that same sing-song _I'm a morning person_ tone.

 

"Today is the day. Are you excited?"

 

Emily looks down at her plate and frowns.

 

"Yes and no."

 

"Why the no?"

 

Mulder's brow furrows and panic picks at his stomach.

 

"Because this is not my Scooby-Doo plate."

 

_Oh Dear God!_

 

"I know, right? I didn't get my Princess Jasmine plate either... guess we'll just have to starve."

 

Mulder tries to remain serious, but the toddler picks up his sarcasm easily.

 

"You're goofy, dad."

 

Mulder is in the process of chewing an egg when _“you're goofy, dad”_ smacks him in the face. Needless to say, he chokes and has to recover with his tall glass of orange juice. What can he say, though? He can't tell her not to call him that. Not after their little conversation from last night. Not after ... everything. But he also can't stall any longer because Emily literally hangs on his every word.

 

"I have _never_ been goofy in my entire life."

 

"Oh yeah? What about Mister Potato Head?"

 

"What? Who?"

 

Emily does her best to make the face he'd once imitated to her.

 

"Oh! That guy."

 

Mulder makes the face back which elicits a snort-laugh from the small blonde.

 

"We better hurry and eat. You've got to get a bath and then you're getting your hair done."

 

A toddler getting pampered? This has Emily written all over it.

 

* * *

 

 

 

Maggie stands behind her daughter pinning up curls because Scully finally caved and asked for help, despite her very _‘I can do this’_ attitude - some things never change. Carefully she puts on her mascara with a hand-held mirror in her left hand.

 

"Are you nervous?"

 

"A little."

 

Scully replies with her mouth slightly open in the O-face women make while they're applying mascara. No one's really sure why they do it. It's not like it helps or anything. **THEY JUST DO.**

 

"--I mean, I don't know why I'm nervous, mom. I love him so very much..."

 

"It's normal, Dana. Everyone's nervous on their wedding day. I'm sure Fox is a nervous wreck right now."

  
****

* * *

 

 

And he is. His shower time takes a little longer than he'd planned. But for some reason, he finds the need to clip his toenails, fingernails, trim his nose hairs, _groom_ , and shave again. All a wedding day must- and who is anyone to argue that?

 

Emily watches some morning cartoons and remains _good_ because she'd made a deal with Mulder that if she were _good_ while he showered, he'd paint her nails. And so, to keep up his end of the deal, after he dresses, Mulder paints both her nails and toenails pink.

 

Maggie taps on the glass door and sticks her head into their room.

 

"Grandma! Mulder painted my nails!"

 

"He did?"

 

Maggie bends down to examine the nails and is quite surprised. They're not hot pink, and they're completely to her _age-appropriate_ standards.

 

"I think he did a great job. Listen, are you ready to go have your hair done?"

 

Emily, no sugar added, nearly bounces off the walls with excitement.

 

"YES! YES! YES!"

 

"Em, we're going over to your mother's room, but before we do we've got to calm down a little bit, okay? Mommy needs everything to be...calm. okay?"

 

Mulder looks to Maggie with a little worry, but his soon-to-be mother-in-law banishes his stray worries with a small shake of her head. She mouthes the words _she's completely fine_ before escorting Emily out. That _completely_ part really does the trick.

 

* * *

 

 

"Mom, what time is it?"

 

"it's a little after five, you've got time, sweetheart."

 

Scully paces the bedroom in her dress. Partly practicing not tripping over the extra fabric that trails behind her, and partly as a side effect of her nerves.Emily twirls around watching her dress flow in the tall mirror, smiling and giggling as she does. This is as calm as she’ll get.

 

"Dana, why don't you sit? You're going to get tired."

 

"I won't. I don't want to sit."

 

"Why are you so nervous, honey?"

 

"Because I want it to happen already. I'm ready. I want to go."

 

No, in fact, she's not all that nervous. In truth, Scully misses Mulder. These days, they're not ever really apart. It's not that she **can't** function without him... it's just that she's had a taste for what it would be like to **not** have to, and now that's all she can think about.

 

"Thirty more minutes."

 

"Really?"

 

Scully turns to her mother with a beaming smile. It’s like her whole entire body, at that moment, relaxed. And it’s then, more than mother's intuition, that Maggie knows exactly what is up with her daughter.

 

* * *

 

 

Mulder stands before the mirror straightening his tie. He'd finally got it perfect the third time around. He checks his breath and swishes with more Listerine before finally telling himself _everything's fine_ in the bathroom mirror. In all honesty, he's not all that nervous anymore. But rather he's got quite the build-up of anticipation to see Scully in her dress. They'd both agreed on nothing too fancy, but also both agreed that this will be their first and last marriage so _let's make it something to write home about._

 

He looks out to the beach where chairs have been set up, and between the rows is an aisle. The aisle that he and Scully will walk down in less than fifteen minutes.

 

Bill taps on the glass pulling Mulder from thought.

 

"Hey. I was told to come check on you."

 

Lately, believe it or not, Bill and Mulder have been on the ups. Perhaps it was their shared love for sports or maybe Maggie and Scully broke through to him.

 

"I'm good."

 

Mulder sits on the edge of the couch and motions for Bill to make himself at home.

 

"You ready?"

 

"More than. You?"

 

"Honestly, I've got some pretty big shoes to fill here today, Mulder. I truly wish our father were here to see this... He'd be... proud."

 

Bill fiddles with his wedding band on his hand before looking up to Mulder,

 

"He'd like you. He always liked intelligent, hardworking, and dedicated people,"

 

Mulder wants to smile.

 

"---and anyone who could make his youngest daughter happy would make him happy. She was his baby..."

 

_Okay, are we about to cry here, or what?_

 

"I appreciate that. I wish I had had the chance to meet him. To shake his hand...and to thank him for being part in creating the worlds most beautiful and headstrong woman."

 

Bill smiles and, if Mulder saw what he thinks he saw, wipes a stray tear from his cheek.

 

The two stand, shake hands and prepare for the five-minute countdown.

 

* * *

 

 

Emily hands off the bouquet to her mother and wraps her little arms around Scully's legs.

 

"You look beautiful, mommy."

 

"Thank you, baby. You do too. Are you ready to drop the flowers?"

 

Maggie hands Emily her designated Flowergirl basket and guides the child to the glass door that leads out to the beach.

 

"Mom,"

 

Maggie tells Emily to stay put before returning to her daughter.

 

"What is it, Dana?"

 

Scully wraps her arms around her mother and holds her tight. Neither shed a tear, as they'd both warned each other about _makeup running_ hours ago.

 

"I love you, mom."

 

"Mommy! Somebody's here for you!"

 

"Am I late? Did my big sister already get married?"

 

Charlie chimes in, rounding the hall to find Scully and Maggie mid embrace.

 

"Charlie?"

 

The tall, red-headed man, stands with a goofy smile on his beard covered face.

 

"What? You think I'd miss my big sister marrying a UFO enthusiast?No way!"

 

Scully's brother nearly picks her up off the ground to hug her before hugging their mother.

 

"Mommy, Mulder, and uncle Bill are already walking down to the beach!"

 

Maggie glances at the clock. It's time.

 

Charlie kisses Scully good luck on the cheek and rushes out to grab a seat next to some bald dude in a suit jacket.

 

Bill's wife Tara, and their kids nearly take up the second row, and from what Scully can see, there's a few heads of hair, _a few with no or little to no hair_ , taking up the remaining seats.

 

"Okay, Dana. It's time."

 

Scully holds her breath, clutching on to her bouquet, and takes the first step from the room to the outdoors.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HUGE THANK YOU TO MY BETA, STELLA!! LOVE YOU! THANK YOU!
> 
> *Fist and last marriage* because I refuse to acknowledge that Mulder was wearing a wedding ring season 5 Ep 15! 
> 
>  
> 
> Also, enjoy this google find  
> http://www.thejfiles.com/spimgs/marriedhrt.gif


End file.
